THE MAGIC'S BACK N
Mary Poppins is back to light up the dark times
one of us would have touched a remake in a million years,” promises Rob Marshall, director of upcoming sequel Mary Poppins Returns. “The original film means a lot to all of us.” But when he set out to recruit his cast for a sequel, proposing an original story that aims to capture the tone of the 1964 original, Marshall found stars eager to help.
Emily Blunt plays Poppins, Meryl Streep signed on as her cousin Topsy, and Broadway hero Lin-manuel Miranda takes his first major big-screen role as lamplighter Jack. Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer are the grown Michael and Jane Banks, and Colin Firth plays Michael’s boss Mr Wilkins. Even Disney legends Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke, both 91 at the time of shooting, turned out, with Van Dyke playing bank boss Mr Dawes Jr, having donned old-age make-up back in 1964 to play Dawes Sr.
“There were a lot of things about that film we didn’t want to lose,” says Marshall. “[It’s like] doing the next James Bond after Sean Connery’s done, or the Star Wars sequels. How do you follow a film that’s perfect and that means so much?”
Marshall found the answer by returning to P.L. Travers’ original books, noting that the early ones — written and set in the 1930s — made repeated reference to the Depression. The characters’ money struggles offered something he thought would chime with our own times, and a 1930s setting (the original film having been set in 1910) allowed for the involvement of Jane and Michael Banks as adults.
As for the return of Mary Poppins herself, Marshall and his story team came up with a set-up that could explain the presence of the otherworldly governess. Michael now has three children, but his wife has recently died and he’s struggling to raise them on his own. “For the kids,” says Marshall, “things have also changed. They’ve almost become the adults now and their childhood is escaping them. So I thought, ‘Okay, there is a reason. Mary Poppins comes back to help fill that hole in the family.’”
To replace the iconic Julie Andrews, Marshall had only one person in mind, having worked with Blunt on Into The Woods. “I don’t know if I would have done this movie without Emily,” he
says. “I think it would have been almost impossible.” Blunt could provide the stern, British element necessary for Poppins, but also the ocean of warmth and humour underneath. As a bonus, she can also sing and dance, which is important, with new songs by Hairspray’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
Beyond paying homage to the original, Marshall is convinced that the times we live in require a little bit of Poppins. “This is a very fragile world where there’s easily a loss of hope and wonder. A lot of people find those words simplistic, but I think that’s what keeps you going. To tell a story of [the] rediscovery of joy and magic was a reason I signed on. It’s a time for musicals.”
“The world needs a magical nanny right now” may not be the official tagline, but it’s an apt sentiment. Marshall, Blunt and the rest still have until December to prove they can live up to the Poppins legend, but they seem to be pointing their umbrellas in the right direction. HELEN O’HARA